Package supporting units



Oct. 11, 1966 J. E. TALBdT PACKAGE SUPPORTING UNITS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Feb. 15, 1965 Oct. 11, 1966 J. E. TALBOT 3,

PACKAGE SUPPORTING UNITS Filed Feb. 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 UnitedStates Patent 3,277,849 PAIIKAGE SUPPORTING UNITS James E. Talbot,Wynnewood, Pa, assignor to FMC Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., acorporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 15, 1965, Ser. No. 432,759 Claims.(Cl. 10858) This invention relates to light weight units for supportingpackages during transportation and while the packages are stored in awarehouse or the like. More particularly th invention relates to simpleunits which may be readily assembled to form a load supporting palletand to a pallet formed from such units and also to units which interfitto prevent slipping when one palletized load is stacked on top ofanother.

A convenient way of transporting bulky packages and groups of relativelysmall packages is by means of a fork lift truck. In order to permit thetines of the fork to pass beneath the load preparatory to lifting thesame, the package or group of packages forming the load is mounted upona pallet, which is a flat platform supported on short legs and whichserves to hold the load spaced above the floor. The load is frequently,in fact generally, strapped or otherwise secured to the pallet wherebythe pallet travels with the load from the shipper to the consignee, atwhich point (and frequently during or before shipment) several loads andtheir pallets are stacked one on top of another. Usually, pallets aremade of wood and are relatively costly and weigh from about twentypounds upwards. Due to the cost of the pallet it is usual to return thesame to the shipper after it has served its purpose and because of boththe weight and bulk this return shipment is itself a noticeable item ofexpense. Of course the weight of the wooden pallet also adds to theoriginal shipping charges.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a load carryingpallet formed of inexpensive, readily separable units which units are soconstructed as to nest together into a compact package which can beshipped at a minimum of expense.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pallet which is solight in weight that its presence does not noticeably add to the cost ofshipping the articles carried thereupon.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a structural unitfor use in making a load supporting pallet which unit is so arrangedthat a plurality of the same will nest together into a compact package.

Another object of the invention is to provide a package supporting unitwhich will facilitate the stacking of palletized packages.

Other and further objects of the invention will become apparent as thedescription of certain preferred embodiments thereof proceeds.

Referring now to the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one form of the pallet forming unit;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line III=I of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 1III-II of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view showing a modified form of construction;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line VV of FIG. 6;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of a pallet formed of interfitted units of thetype shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of a package supporting unit for facilitating thestacking of loads supported on pallets of the type shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along the line VII-IVII I of FIG. 7;

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FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a modified form of unit of the type shownin FIG. 7; and

FIG. 10 is a side elevational view showing stacked palletized loads.

The structural units for forming the pallet are preferably molded from aplastic material such as polypropylene, nylon or other long-chain linearpolymer capable of being molded into a tough, resilient structure. Theunit shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 comprises an elongated relatively narrowthin strip 10 having projections 11 and 12 formed integrally therewithand extending outwardly from one face thereof near each end of thestrip. Depending upon the size of the pallet to be formed and the weightof the load to be carried by the pallet other projections are providedintermediate the end projections 11 and 12, one intermediate projection13 being shown in the drawing. If there is only one intermediateprojection it is located mid-way between the end projections and whenmore than one intermediate projection is provided the intermediate onesare evenly spaced from one another and from the end projections, thereason for this arrnagement presently to become apparent. The variousprojections are hollow, taper inwardly away from strip 11 and have flatsides. A preferred form for the projections is that of a truncatedpyramid having a square base. Since strip 10 may be quite thin andtherefore fairly flexible it is desirable to provide stiffening meansbetween the projections and in that form of the unit shown in FIGS. 1, 2and 3 the stiffening means is in the form of a pair of longitudinallyextending ribs 14 and 15 formed integrally with the strip and located onthe same face of the strip as the various projections, ribs 14 and 15extending between projections 11 and 13 but stopping short of theimmediate vicinity of the projections, for reasons presently to beexplained. Between projections 12 and 13 another pair of ribs 16 and 17are provided in a manner similar to ribs 14 and 15.

The forms of unit shown in FIG. 4 is similar to that previouslydescribed except that the strip is stiffened by corrugating the samelongitudinally and here again the corrugations are omitted in theimmediate vicinity of the projections. In FIG. 4 the corrugated strip isindicated at 10 and one of the projections at 12. An advantage of thiscorrugated arrangement over that of the ribbed construction is that itrequires somewhat less material.

Because of the tapered configuration of the projections the units abovedescribed may be compactly nested together with the projections of oneunit extending into the hollow interior of the projections of anadjacent unit. Thus a considerable number of such units may be nestedtogether into a relatively small package convenient for shipping. Thebottoms of the projections are provided with an opening as shown whichprevents air from being trapped within the projections. This not onlypermits a very snug nesting but facilitates the separation of the unitsfrom one another.

In FIG. 6, in full lines, is shown a pallet formed of four units 18, 19.2t) and 21 similar to the units shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3. As shown inFIG. 5, end projection 22 of unit 18 is nested within an end projection23 of the unit 19 and since the two projections are in the form oftruncated square based pyramids, the two units are locked againstangular displacement. In FIG. 5 one of the stiffening ribs of unit 18 isindicated at 24 and since this rib, as previously mentioned, does notextend into the immediate vicinity of the projection 22 it does notinterfere with the complete nesting of projection 22 within projection23 of unit 19. It will be apparent that the other three corners of thepallet of FIG. 6 are arranged similarly to the one corner shown in FIG.5. Thus, with a pallet as shown in full lines the two end projections ofeach unit are nested with an end projection of two other units and thevarious units are interlocked against relative movement.

If a higher strength pallet is required than would be provided by thefour units, additional cross units may be provided as shown in ghostoutline in FIG. 6, the end projections of the ghosted units nested withan intermediate projection of the side units and intermediateprojections of the ghosted units nesting with one another. Most palletforming units will have three projections and in those cases of coursethe ghosted units have their central projections nested together. Apallet for carrying relatively light loads may be formed by merely usingthe two ghosted units shown in FIG. 6, the crossed arrangement beingmaintained by the fiat sided nested projections.

In loading the pallet, packages may be placed directly across the top ofthe units forming the pallet or if desired a sheet of double-facedcorrugated paper board may be laid on the pallet to provide a solidfloor so that the packages will not fall into the spaces between theunits. The need for a solid floor is of course dictated by the size ofthe packages. After positioning the desired number of packages on thepallet, straps such as shown at 26 and 27 in FIG. are encircled aboutthe load and beneath the strip portions of the pallet forming unitswhereby the units are held securely to the load. The projections of theunits of course serve as legs for the pallet to hold the load carryingsurface thereof above the level of the floor so that the tines of thefork lift truck may be inserted beneath the pallet between theprojections or legs.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a form of unit which may be secured to the top of thepallet mounted load to facilitate the stacking of a second palletizedload thereupon. These units comprise an elongated relatively narrow thinstrip 30 provided near each end with integrally formed hollow supportmembers 32 and 34. In FIGS. 7 and 8, the support members 32 and 34 aresquare and have non-tapering sides whereby they may receive thetruncated square projections of pallet forming units of the type shownin FIGS. 1 through 4. Ordinarily it is not necessary to provide thestrips 30 with an intermediate support member. FIG. 9 shows a modifiedform of support member comprising an elongated relatively narrow thinstrip 36 having support members 3-8 formed integrally therewith. Members38 are in the form of open-ended truncated square pyramids which enablethe truncated square projections of the pallet forming units to nestsnugly therewithin. This form of structure provides somewhat morepositive locking action than does the form shown in FIGS. 7 and 8.

In FIG. 10 one of the strips 30 is shown secured to the top of apalletized load 40 and the end projections or legs of one of the unitsof the upper pallet are shown extending into the members 32 and 34. Inpreparing the load for stacking at least two of the strips 30 aresecured to the top of the load, said strips extending parallel to oneanother and spaced apart the distance between the end projections of theunits forming the pallet whereby one palletized load may be stackedsecurely on top of another without danger of slipping.

Having thus described certain preferred embodiments of the invention,what is claimed is:

1. A structural unit for use in making a load-supporting pallet, saidunit comprising an elongated relatively narrow thin strip having aplurality of widely spaced, flat sided hollow projections arranged in asingle straight line and extending from one face thereof, saidprojections being formed integrally with said strip, and saidprojections being open-ended in the plane of said strip and taperinginwardly in the direction away from the plane of said strip, whereby aplurality of such units may be nested together with the projections ofone unit extending into the hollow interiors of the projections of anadjacent unit, said strip having a stiffening means between saidprojections, and said strip being free of stiffening means in thevicinity of said projections.

2. The structural unit set forth in claim 1 wherein said stiffeningmeans comprises at least one rib formed integrally with said strip andextending longitudinally of the strip on the same face thereof as saidprojections.

3. The structural unit set forth in claim 1 wherein said stiffeningmeans comprises longitudinally extending corrugations formed in saidstrip.

4. A load supporting pallet comprising a plurality of individualstructural units as defined in claim 1, a contacting pair of said unitsbeing angularly disposed with respect to one another, and one of theflat-sided hollow projections of one of the units of said pair beingnested within one of the projections of the other unit of said pairwhereby said pair of units are locked against relative angular movement.

5. A load supporting pallet comprising at least four individual units asdefined in claim 1, and two projections of each unit being nested with aprojection of two other units.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,758,750 8/1956Stroop 220-97 2,919,875 1/1960 Mendel 10853 X 3,140,672 7/1964 De Luca10853 3,187,691 6/1965 Leitzel 10858 FOREIGN PATENTS 633,024 12/1961Canada. 1,322,667 2/1963 France.

795,564 5/ 1958 Great Britain.

807,571 1/1959 Great Britain.

828,506 2/1960 Great Britain.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner.

G. O. FINCH, Assistant Examiner.

1. A STRUCTURAL UNIT FOR USE IN MAKING A LOAD-SUPPORTING PALLET, SAIDUNIT COMPRISING AN ELONGATED RELATIVELY NARROW THIN STRIP HAVING APLURALITY OF WIDELY SPACED, FLAT SIDED HOLLOW PROJECTIONS ARRANGED IN ASINGLE STRAIGHT LINE AND EXTENDING FROM ONE FACE THEREOF, SAIDPROJECTIONS BEING FORMED INTEGRALLY WITH SAID STRIP, AND SAIDPROJECTIONS BEING OPEN-ENDED IN THE PLANE OF SAID STRIP AND TAPERINGINWARDLY IN THE DIRECTION AWAY FROM THE PLANE OF SAID STRIP, WHEREBY APLURALITY OF SUCH UNITS MAY BE NESTED TOGETHER WITH THE PROJECTIONS OFONE UNIT EXTENDING INTO THE HOLLOW INTERIORS OF THE PROJECTIONS OF ANADJACENT UNIT, SAID STRIP HAVING A STIFFENING MEANS BETWEEN SAIDPROJECTIONS, AND SAID STRIP BEING FREE OF STIFFENING MEANS IN THEVICINITY OF SAID PROJECTIONS.